No Perspective
The bar's much quieter tonight. Maybe because it's closed and the doors are padlocked to prevent anyone from coming inside.
The people that need to be there are already in.
It's raining tonight, barely anybody occupying the Milan streets.
His boots tapped the floor with each step he took, walking to the very back of the bar—the part where the public wasn't allowed to be.
He had left Elaina at the villa, waiting until she fell asleep to leave. She'd be fine...especially with the two compensated men guarding the gates that she wasn't aware of.
He walked through a red velvet curtain, into a room that smelled of blood. He knew why, and he knew who's blood it was.
"Styles, you're late." Zayn spoke from his standing position against the wall.
"Reelaax, Malik. I'm here." Harry hummed as he set his eyes on the reason they were here tonight.
Niall stood a few feet away with a bloodied baseball bat. Louis relaxed on a couch on the other side of the room with a cigarette in his mouth. Liam had a switchblade in his hand as he stood on the other side of Harry, the blade was also bloody...and that's when Harry noticed they had cut off an ear of their victim.
"Damn, you guys couldn't have waited until I got here?" he questioned as the guys shrug.
"Do your thing now." Zayn urged.
Harry looked back at their victim.
Well, not a victim, but instead someone who deserved this.
Elaina was really the victim.
That same bartender that drugged her was tied up in front of the guys now, his hands bound behind his back with a cloth stuffed in his mouth.
He was awake—unfortunately for him.
He glared at Harry as the green eyed deviant bent down to the bartender's level, ripping the cloth from his mouth.
"You know why you're here." Harry simply stated, giving the bartender a hateful stare.
The bartender didn't say anything...but he was terrified of Harry and these men.
"Does it bring you satisfaction to drug women? Hmm?" Harry tilted his head.
"I-I didnt—"
"Cut the shit." Harry uttered. "What were your plans with her? Huh? Get her somewhere quiet and have your way with her while she's barely conscious?" Harry pried, watching the man's expression tighten. "Was that it? You sick fucker."
It was almost laughable once the bartender began to cry. He begged and pleaded for mercy.
"I'll never do it again. Please. Please I don't want to die."
"And I'm sure she didn't want to get drugged. But it happened anyway, didn't it?" Zayn chimed in from his leaning stance against the wall.
"You fucked up, kid." Louis laughed from the couch.
"Yeah, you're fucked. You deserve this." Liam tossed the blade up and caught it by the handle.
"You have no idea what we do to people like you." Niall said,
"—people who abuse power." Harry finished the thought.
"What power do I have! I'm a fucking bartender!" the man spat, blood in his mouth and down his chin.
"You had the power of making her drink. You knew she'd trust the bartender because it's their fucking job to make people safe drinks." Zayn muttered angrily, his teeth clenched.
The bartender then screamed out in frustration, pulling against his bindings and thrashing around in the chair.
All of the guys stared with blank expressions, until Harry gave an eye roll, becoming fed up with his yelling.
"Alright, this is getting sad." he murmured as he pulled out a gun from his waistband.
He stepped right up to the chair, threading his fingers in the bartenders hair to yank his head back and sticking the barrel of the gun in his mouth.
"Not so big and tough with a gun between your teeth, hey? I bet you feel scared. I bet you feel small. Exactly how she felt." Harry muttered in the man's face.
"How does it feel to be the prey now, mate? Because unfortunately for you, I'm a fucking bloodthirsty hunter."
The man cried against the gun shoved in his mouth, pinching his eyes shut out of fear.
Harry loved that. He loved the fact that this man was scared.
He should be.
"I should just call the cops and have you taken to jail, thrown in with people like us who won't hesitate to rip apart a vile, slimy little piece of shit like yourself." Harry muttered between clenched teeth, "And believe me, I have connections that would make sure you don't last a day in there."
The bartender trembled, letting out muffled whines as he stared up at Harry's furious face.
"But..." Harry continued, "I think I'd much rather finish you off myself." he said as he brought the weapon out of the man's mouth, humming a short tune to himself as he placed his hands behind his back and walked away from the chair.
"Just brings me some sort of satisfaction..." Harry kept talking, all eyes focused on him as he turned around a few feet away from the chair and held the gun out. "...watching sick fucks like you die."
Those were the final words spoken before the bullet was sent through the man's head. Harry watched, lowering the gun as he smirked at his own impeccable aim.
"Rot in hell." Zayn murmured before walking to join where the rest of the boys stood.
"What now?" Liam questioned.
"We burn the body." Zayn answered nonchalantly.
"Won't it look suspicious on you? That the bartender just...disappeared?" Niall asked as he went behind the dead body and uncuffed the lifeless wrists.
"No one questions anything that happens here. They know not to." Zayn clarified, grabbing a gallon of gasoline.
"What about her?" Harry brought up the redhead that Zayn was so protective over.
Zayn paused and looked over his shoulder, not saying anything at first, then clearing his throat.
"We'll just tell her he left. She won't know that we had anything to do with it." he answered.
"I cant believe you haven't told her about the bar. Doesn't she fucking live with you? Where does she think all your money comes from?" Louis said as he helped Niall get the body ready.
Liam went over to the backdoor, holding it open and keeping watch as the boys took the body outside.
"She minds her business." Zayn replied. "And it's better if she doesn't know."
The body was carried outside, thrown in one of the dumpsters. The boys all stood around it. There was no one else around due to the time of night.
This wasn't anything extreme for them. It was almost a casual thing.
Getting rid of bodies was nothing new.
"Did you guys hear about the robbery at that jewelry store?" Liam spoke, making Harry freeze for a moment and clear his throat, internally recalling hiding Elaina in that alley.
"The news won't tell anyone who was involved because it's too early in the investigation." Niall replied.
"Yeah but, we know already, don't we." Louis said, his tone almost sarcastic because everyone here already had the gut feeling about who committed that crime...
...except Harry. Harry knew for sure.
"Why are you all quiet?" Niall acknowledged Harry's silence as the curly haired boy leaned against the brick wall, taking a cigarette from his pocket.
"I'm not." Harry shook his head with the stick between his teeth.
"Yeah, no. Niall's right. You're acting weird." Zayn barged into the conversation.
Harry raised his hands in defence, everyone looking at him now. "Jesus, can you get off my dick?"
"You went mute the second we brought the robbery up." Louis said.
"I'm trying to have a smoke." Harry replied sardonically, his hands cupping the cigarette as he lit it.
"Do you know something?" Niall kept pushing.
Harry, fed up with his colleagues, decided to just throw it all out there...but not before he let out a groan of annoyance.
"It was them." Harry confirmed. "The white masks. They did it." he told the boys as he took a drag from the cigarette in his mouth.
"How the hell do you know that?" Zayn questioned and Harry was quick with his answer,
"Because, Picasso and I were there. We saw it happen." he admitted, not even having to look at Zayn to know his eyes grew wide with anger.
"She saw them?!" Zayn raised his voice, shouting through his teeth as his tension grew.
"Fuck sakes, Malik, you need to relax." Harry shot back. "She saw the masks but she thinks they were just regular burglars. Loosen up, she has no idea."
Zayn ran a stressed hand through his hair as he let out a frustrated sigh.
"Did they see you?" —was Zayn's next question.
"No." Harry replied shortly, still smoking against the wall.
"Are you sure—"
"We were hidden."
"You know how bad it would've been if they did see you with her, right?" Liam said.
"Fucking obviously. If I didn't know, I would've left her there and protected myself instead." Harry spat, his words earning a glare from Zayn.
Harry looked at Zayn and shrugged. "What? It's not like she'd be any use to me otherwise."
There's something about Elaina that Zayn feels the need to protect—even though he's put her in danger as well. Zayn's perfectly aware of that, and he has put it upon himself to make sure nothing happens.
"Classic." Zayn shook his head. "Always putting yourself first."
"You know it."
"Okay, enough. We need to set this motherfucker on fire." Louis stopped the bickering.
Zayn picked up the gasoline, pouring it into the dumpster and coating the dead body in the liquid. The smell of gasoline filled his nostrils as he made sure not to miss a square inch.
"Okay. Light him up." Zayn said as he finished.
Harry took a final puff from his cigarette before carelessly tossing it into the dumpster, orange flames instantly lighting up the alleyway.
Contained by the dumpster, the fire would hide their crimes tonight...even though the prick deserved what happened to him.
The five men walked away from the dumpster, heading for Zayn's car that was parked down the street.
They piled in, Harry in the passenger seat, lighting yet another cigarette—this time for his own personal enjoyment.
He didn't intend on using this one to set another body on fire.
This part of Milan was quiet tonight, most people asleep in their homes.
Harry liked Milan, as much as a person like him could enjoy anything. He liked the way the air smelled this time of year—summer time. He liked the streetlights, they looked nice at night. But, he's not here to enjoy Milan's scenery, and he knows that.
The car arrived at the villa around one in the morning. Elaina was laying down in her bed, where she had been for hours, restless.
She wasn't asleep, but she had no idea what was happening. All she knew was that Harry was downstairs when she went to bed, and now it sounds like all of the guys have arrived back at the house.
They were gone all day. She questioned to herself what they could have been doing.
Probably just...business.
To her knowledge, these weird antics that have been happening all week will be over in just a few more days. Then it'll just be her and Zayn again, like usual.
She has bigger, more important things to focus on, so she thinks. Her painting is so close to completion and she can smell the display with her name on it in the Rodin Museum.
Nothing's gonna get in her way.
//
shorttttt chapter but an important one. you'll get much longer chapters after this one i promise <3